WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Knowing the Cardinals are searching for starting pitching in advance of Tuesday’s trade deadline, Andre Pallante seemed to have a message he wanted to deliver with his performance on Sunday.
“Don’t forget about me.”
In the best start of his rookie season, Pallante pitched into the ninth inning, allowing just three hits over the first eight innings, before getting help from Ryan Helsley to complete the shutout over the Nationals in Washington, D.C.
Pallante walked one and struck out a career-high eight but lost his chance for the first complete game of his professional career when he was pulled after giving up hits to the first two batters in the ninth inning.
Here is how the game broke down:
At the plate: Corey Dickerson had the biggest hit of the game, a three-run homer in the fourth that followed back-to-back walks to Nolan Gorman and Lars Nootbaar … Dickerson also doubled and scored in the second and singled in the sixth, his first three-hit game for the Cardinals … Paul DeJong homered for the second consecutive game since being recalled from Memphis and counting three games there this week has hit a home run in his last five games … Gorman reached base three timeson an infield single and two walks … Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado were a combined 0-of-9 with Goldschmidt striking out three times.
On the mound: After giving up singles to the first two batters in the second inning, Pallante allowed just one baserunner until the ninth, a sixth-inning single, as he retired 19 of the next 20 hitters … Pallante threw 96 pitches in the longest outing of his career … Helsley stranded the two inherited runners with two strikeouts, including one of Juan Soto, and a fly out. Helsley has inherited 17 runners this season and allowed only one to score. He has now struck out 64 of the 151 hitters he has faced this season.
Key stat: The Cardinals finished July with a record of 11-13, their first losing month since June of last year and only their second losing record in a complete month since May of 2019.
Worth noting: After coming out of Saturday night’s game because of leg cramps, Tyler O’Neill was held out of the lineup again on Sunday as a precautionary move. He is expected to be ready to play on Tuesday night after Monday’s day off … Also getting the day off was Tommy Edman who has had a tough July, ending the month with a .198 average (18-of-91) with just three RBIs.
Looking ahead: Even though his scheduled rehab start was rained out on Sunday in Memphis, Yadier Molina is expected to rejoin the Cardinals on Tuesday in time to catch Adam Wainwright in the game against the Cubs, which would be their 317th game together as the starting battery moving them into sole possession of second place on the all-time list for starts by a pitcher-catcher combination.
